Courier Friends to Follow

Middle school being evacuated

What is believed to be a bomb found near MMS

Staff report

POSTED:November 13, 2013 10:04 a.m.

Denise Etheridge/

Midway Middle School students board buses Wednesday morning near the school following an evacuation call. The children were taken to Liberty County High School as law-enforcement authorities investigated the discovery of a "suspicious device."

Children have been evacuated from Midway Middle School after what appears to be an explosive device was found near the school, according to Midway Police Chief Kelly Morningstar.

Liberty County Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Hodges said the 911 center fielded a call earlier Wednesday morning from an individual who said "a device" had been left in a vehicle at MMS.

State and county police converged on the scene shortly after 8 a.m., as students were arriving at the school and at nearby Liberty Elementary School. Officials did find something in a car that concerned to them, which led to the school's evacuation.

Witnesses at the scene reported seeing students being loaded onto buses. Hodges said they were taken to Liberty County High School.

Morningstar said officials are considering whether students at the elementary school, which is about 200 yards from the middle school, down Edgewater Drive, should also be moved.